


Damsel in Distress

by sexy-captain-rexy (smolkatsudon)



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Canon, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon Compliant, Canon Universe, Everything is Complicated, F/M, Fluff, Romance, War is Complicated, a budding romance?, leia is meh on the subject, no one likes hux though, somethings just happen i guess, the heart is complicated
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-04
Updated: 2018-04-04
Packaged: 2019-04-18 07:24:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,850
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14208111
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/smolkatsudon/pseuds/sexy-captain-rexy
Summary: Rey knows that she doesn't fit the mold of a typical girl, and compared to the life Leia lived as the princess to Alderaan— a far away place that the general herself speaks about with a faraway look in her eyes— she's no princess or damsel. But she's heard stories, especially the ones that Poe's mother used to tell him, about brave knights and saviours of kingdoms and nations all battling a horrid evil to save whomever the hero has set their hearts upon. That's what Rey thinks she is, a knight, and she wants to be able to help and save whoever she can.Even if that someone turns out to be an ill tempered man with hair the colour of fire and eyes that remind her of water so deep that it holds a great treasure beneath the roaring waves above.





	Damsel in Distress

It was all just supposed to be a simple touch down on the planet filled with people with questionable hobbies and a whole lot of sand. Do what they needed, and go, and in the name of the Force, do _not_ do _anything_ stupid. Those words were given to everyone allowed to roam free, but everyone could see the sidelong glance Leia gave Poe. Needless to say, he wasn’t too happy with being subtly called out. But he accepted the rules, glance and all, and left the port with the Millenium Falcon resting on the ground as BB8 beeps happily behind him. Many others left the docking area to explore the sandiness of Tatooine, thinking that they could at least find something to do in the time Chewbacca needed to do some repairs.

Rey, having managed to get separated from her exploration group comprised of Finn, Rose, and R2D2, now finds herself wandering around the different buildings. Not wanting to drag too much attention to herself, she kept to the shadows and slunk about, exploring the nooks and crannies of sandy town.

Her hazel eyes scan the surroundings, partially alert and partially interested. Tatooine proves to be very much like Jakku, though Rey feels a little conflicted by that fact, while still being quite different. Perhaps the reason for liking the sandtrap at all is because Chewbacca told her that this was where Han and himself met Luke for the first time.

Maybe…

A voice suddenly drift through the thick air, sounding quite angry and rough. Curious, Rey creeps towards the direction, completely having forgotten the one rule of avoiding stupid decisions. Then again, if this commotion in the close distance meant that someone is in trouble, more the reason for her to check, right?

Arriving to where she thinks she heard the voice, Rey cautiously peeks her head past the corner of the tan stone before her and glaces around. Nothing, so far. When she tries reaching a little further than just her immediate sight and hearing alone, she notices that she should be alone in the small plaza. Stepping past the buildings, she makes her way into the centre and then spins around in wonder.

_shuffle shuffle_

Rey whips her head to the direction of the sound and her eyes land onto a building at the far end of the small plaza. She quickly ducks towards the walls of the other buildings, making sure to press her body against the wall as she moves closer and closer to the building. When she finally manages to make it to a window of the tan structure without getting caught, her head slowly rises. Peeking past the window frame, she can barely make out a figure sitting a step from the window, staring down at a heap on the ground.

She lets her eyes wander down to the heap, finding a mess of black and dark greys contrasting the orange-brown of the sandy ground. The bundle is a man, she realises, with ginger hair pressed strikingly against the sand. His eyes are closed for a moment, and he almost looks delicate, like he doesn’t belong in a place like this. Rey lets her eyes wander a little more, finally catching sight of a black and white insignia that causes her blood to freeze on the spot.

The First Order.

A member of the First Order? Who is the man? Is he important? Did he know Ben? What is he doing here? Is he in trouble? Is that _blood_? What—

“You better be worth the trouble,” spits out the figure sitting on the chair with a grunt. His voice is deep and masculine, also very tired with a hint of exasperation.

Brown eyes suddenly meets blue when the man opens his eyes. Rey barely suppresses the gasp that rises from her chest when the ginger man narrows his eyes at the sight of her. Fear strikes her blood when she realises that the ginger man could easily call her position out and turn the tables in quite possibly his favour. Something in her mind tells her to run and find the others before she’s roped into something more dangerous than stupid, but another part sees something glimmering in his blue eyes. The shine looks familiar to her.

“I’m surprised. A General of the First Order, Armitage Hux, managed to be caught? Shocking, to say the least.” The man sitting on the chair sneers and snorts, finding the situation quite amusing. Rey scrunches up her nose at his attitude, wanting more and more to just punch him in the nose. If he even _has_ a nose, that is.

In her thoughts, Rey mentally flips the name over and over like a strange stone. She’s sure she’s heard the name before from somewhere, but can’t seem to figure out from where. And then there’s the fact that he’s a General like Leia. He’s high ranking, that’s for sure, but how come she’s never heard of seen him? Maybe it has something to do with the fact that he doesn’t look like much of a fighter anyway. Probably got overshadowed by Ben, or even Phasma, the “awful Captain” that Finn always complains about.

Her eyes flicker up from the patch on his shoulder back to his eyes and a pang of regret surfaces. She recognizes the look he’s giving her now that she’s thinking of Ben. It’s the same one Ben gave her on Crait, pleading for her not to go, and now coming from a man essentially trapped and unable to do anything but bleed— yes, okay, Rey could definitely see the blood coming from the side of his head now— it’s almost as if he wants her to stay.

Something that sounds like Finn’s voice in her head tries to reason with her thoughts, but when she stares a little longer at the sad sight of Hu—Hugs? Hu—something… Hux? Yeah, it should be Hux, she decides on before she reasons to take matters into her own hands.

She rises in her spot quietly, and with her staff now in her hands, she sticks it through the window and pushes with all the strength she can muster towards the back of the man’s head. Clearly, as the person falls to the floor heavily without another sound, “all her strength” was too much.

Oh well, he had it coming.

As the adrenaline pumps through her blood, Rey quickly slings her staff over her head and rushes into the building.

“Are you okay?” she inquires quickly, crouching down at the side of the ginger general.

“The girl from the Resistance?” The man grunts with what looks like disgust, “I cannot believe it has come to _you_ to rescue me.”

“Look, either you cooperate with me or I’ll leave you here,” Rey threatens with anger lacing her tone, not exactly completely liking the idea of helping a high ranking officer of the faction that killed so many of her friends.

Hux huffs but shoots one glance to the man knocked out on the floor. With a heavy sigh, he looks back up to Rey and sends her a frown of resignation.

“Fine. Anything _has_ to be better than being auctioned off to some revenge seeking idiot without anything better to do.”

Rey can’t find the words to respond to whatever jumble of words came out of his mouth, opting to instead use her actions. So she moves closer, looking at the cuffs that hold his hands together behind his back, also noticing the same cuffs around his ankles. After examining the items, she can’t seem to find anything that could unlock the cuffs nearby.

“The bounty hunter has the means to unlocking them,” Hux says after a few minutes of Rey furiously looking at the cuffs in different angles.

“Do you know where he keeps the device?” Rey questions and Hux nods towards the so-called bounty hunter’s body.

“His belt,” is his only answer.

Rey moves away from Hux and towards the apparent unconscious body. She readies herself for a squirmish, but when she reaches out to nudge the man, he doesn’t move or stir.

“Perhaps you killed him?” Rey thinks this is supposed to be a question, but with his lack of interest and minimal intonation, Rey doesn’t know for sure. And she doesn’t want to delve deeper but she still checks to see if the man is alive. He is, thankfully, after checking his blood pulse. She isn’t going to say that it feels weak to the uninterested captive and instead begins looking for the device.

Like Hux said, there’s a small, flat device with what looks like a button in the middle hooked to the man’s leather belt. It’s easy to unhook it from the metal loop, but when Rey turns to unlock the man’s shackles, she stops. To let him go now might mean the possibility of him turning on her, or even worse, try to kill her. The safest route would be to leave the cuffs around his hands and legs before finally deciding what to do with him.

“Okay, we’re doing this somewhere else,” Rey declares as she tucks the device into her pocket.

“And where is that exactly? A jail cell in wherever you Rebel scum call your home?”

With a deep intake of air followed by a sharp sigh, Rey narrows her eyes at the scathing older man. She oh so desperately wants to punch the man in the face or leave him here to face the wrath of the bounty hunter when he awakes, but she knows that those ideas are cruel and mean, even to a man that might deserve them. Keep calm, Rey, you might attract attention from somewhere else.

“I don’t understand why you’re being such a jerk, but I’m trying to _help_ you,” Rey growls between her gritted teeth. She sighs again to try to quell her anger, “why are you being such a huge pain?”

“It’s not _my_ problem to deal with you,” Hux refutes as his own cheeks start to redden with anger. His eyebrows furrow, adding to the irritated image of the general and Rey narrows her eyes with confusion.

“What do you mean by that?” She questions as her own eyebrows furrow. Hux visibly rolls his eyes, scoffing loudly before landing his blue eyes back onto hers.

“You’re Ren’s little problem. _He_ deals with whatever you do, not _me_. I don’t have to be delicate with you nor be bothered to.” His words sting Rey slightly, but she’s heard worse.

Without another word from herself, forcing Hux to bite back on his next seething comments, Rey simply crouches down to Hux’s side and begins to gather him in her arms. He feels like he’s more clothing than man and Rey wonders if he’s anything like Ben beneath the mass of black he’s wearing. Disappointingly enough, Hux is seriously lacking in the physique section. Rey could feel her lips twitching upwards when a thought of her being physically stronger than the First Order general passes through her mind.

“And what is it that you are trying to do?”

“To _rescue_ you,” Rey grunts before worming her hands underneath the irritable general’s knees and back, eliciting a surprised gasp from the man. He squirms in her grasp and Rey lets out a groan at his childish reaction to the simple gesture. “Hold still!” Rey growls lowly, adjusting her grip again before finally lifting the man from the ground.

Hux lets out another gasp, this time in awe, Rey thinks, and remains relatively still when she straightens up her back. She sends the unconscious bounty hunter another glance before adjusting her grip on the man again, jostling him slightly and bouncing his body over her arms. Hux grumbles incoherently at the jerking movements but ultimately keeps whatever rude comments he has to himself, resorting to simply staring at Rey. She notices this stare once she steps out of the building and can’t help but stare back with her own brown eyes.

“This cannot be real,” Hux finally comments, pulling his eyes to focus on the grains of sand that litter the the ground. Rey raises an eyebrow, looking down at Hux for a second longer with confusion before continuing her trek.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Rey inquires with confusion and curiosity, again, keeping to the shadows as she struggles to leave the area without making a scene. Some inhabitants do see her easily carrying the taller man in her arms, but they look away as if they don’t want to have anything to do with the sight. Then again, if she was seeing this scene herself, she might want to look away too.

Hux remains quiet with a pensive expression resting upon his face. He looks almost peaceful without his frown or the furrow of his eyebrows and Rey feels grateful. She thought that the cunning retorts of the man had were interesting and _quite_ well constructed, but the quiet sight of him simply sitting in her arms was a nice touch as well. And his eyes were nice to look at without the obstruction of his glares.

Satisfied with the treatment she’s getting from the ginger man, Rey returns her eyes to her path and quickens her pace towards the landing port. She knows that she broke the one and only rule Leia gave to the group, and tried steeling herself for the consequences, but something in her still worries. Rey hopes that they can at least put aside their difference for a little while. It’s not like Hux is any threat cuffed in two different places— and that, right, he’s bleeding from his head.

Finally, without any one to stop her, Rey arrives at the entrance to their landing port to see Chewbacca atop the ship and scratching his head. He’s looking over and into the ship’s interior past the metal covering with a tool in his hand. Her eyes continue to wander and she can see Leia seated near to the ship, animatedly in a conversation with Poe. Well, it’s now or never, Rey.

She strides up to Leia, completely ignoring the gapes she received from the other members of the Resistance, before stopping in front of her. Leia looks up just as Poe does, and the sound that Poe makes when his breath is suddenly caught in his throat matches the expression that strikes Leia’s soft features.

“What the— where’d you pick _that_ up?!” questions Poe with shock, fear, anger, and a little confusion. He jumps off of his seat and stands at a safe distance aways from Rey.

“I found him with a bounty hunter,” Rey answers simply, moving her eyes from Poe to Leia, “he’s cuffed up and can’t do anything.”

“Are you suggesting that we _help_ him?” Rey turns to her side and see Rose with and incredulous look on her face. Finn is standing with her, face contorted with anger and steam practically erupting from his ears.

“I think you should have _left_ him,” Finn states, glaring at the ginger man with a ferocity intense enough to kill. Actually, if given the opportunity, Finn would probably kill him without many second doubts. Or maybe no doubts at all.

“I know he’s done a lot of horrible things, but I couldn’t just _leave_ him—” Rey could feel her words grew heavier at the back of her throat when the thought of abandonment flashes by her mind— “we could at least drop him off somewhere. Somewhere relatively safe so he can figure out what to do himself.”

“And just let him waltz back to the First Order? Rey, you have to remember what he did to us and all the other Resistance members,” Poe states, stepping closer with a frown of disbelief. He gestures to Hux and his frown deepens, “there’s absolutely no reason to help the man that ordered for us to be picked off one ship at a time.”

Rey knows this. She’s heard the stories over and over about their escape to Crait and how so many of their transport ships were picked off in a shower of cannon fire that seemed almost deliberately slowed down to make their defeat unrushed and terribly painful. She wasn’t there herself, but she can see the looks in people’s eyes when they remember the sacrifice. She’s practically learned what kind of expression they make since each of them seems to have their own special air that screamed a mix of sadness, regret, and hopelessness.

“I _know_ what he’s done,” Rey begins softly as anger rises up from her chest. Her blood is pumping violently as her heart lights up like it’s on fire and she looks back up to Poe, forgetting when she broke eye contact. She matches her intense gaze with Poe’s higher position, “but _leaving_ him with someone who doesn’t care about his life will _never_ be something I want for anyone. Not even a general of the First Order.”

Rey’s voice comes out low and sharp and she’s practically hissing the words out. She takes a step forward to challenge the hotheaded pilot and his frown deepens even more. The silence that falls over them is thick and consistently rising in negative emotions. It feels like forever until finally someone moves, letting the shuffling of their clothes echo in the dense air.

“Poe, just let her do what she wants,” Rey hears a voice say, glancing over to see Leia standing up from her seat. Leia sends her a glance and heaves a sigh, “I don’t like it either, but Rey is right to not abandon him.”

A part of Rey’s heart swells at the comment and she readjusts the grip she has on Hux. He remains obediently quiet, staring off towards the sky where his face is directed towards.

“Well, Chewie should be done repairs and improvements soon—” the sound of Chewbacca’s roaring could be heard from the roof of the ship, affirming Leia’s words— “so we can figure out where to take this man once we leave the atmosphere.”

“But _where_ ?” Poe has finally backed down, crossing his arms over his chest as a defeated but angry huff escapes his lips. “Where can we go that’s safe for him _and_ us?”

The Resistance members fall into a hush. Many members didn’t even join in before and seem to have no problem with continuing that streak to avoid any contribution to the suggestion pile. Rey doesn’t blame them, after all. Not even Leia’s words can completely win over people who’ve lost so many to, really, one man.

Rey lets out a soft sigh and nods her thanks to Leia for helping her. She makes sure to give a small smile and Leia returns it, seating herself back down. Becoming a little less comfortable with the extra weight in her arms, she makes her way to the Millenium Falcon.

“Canto Bight,” says a voice from behind Rey.

She turns around to see Rose frowning before she diverts her eyes from Rey’s.

“Canto Bight is relatively neutral ground. He’ll be safe there,” Rose mutters as if unwilling to relinquish such information.

Leia nods at this and Rey sends Rose a nod of thanks. She still makes her way up the ramp, wanting to relieve her arms of the weight that’s starting to drain on her energy. She avoids the main areas of the Falcon though and heads for the medical room of the ship before setting the ginger man down. The medical room is always empty, and besides, here Rey could treat the cut or whatever the wound is on Hux’s head without a problem.

“You have far too much trust in me,” Rey hears a voice say before turning to glance at Hux.

“It’s not like I trust you or anything,” Rey retorts as she gathers what she needs to treat Hux, “I just want to help you.”

“Yet, we’re on opposite sides of a _war_.”

Rey turns with the supplies in her arms and she sets them down on a table next to the bed she dropped him in. His words sink deep into her mind as she gets to work, cleaning off the blood and tending to the small cut she found underneath the skin caked in blood.

“War doesn’t mean we can’t help each other when we need to,” Rey finds herself responding, glancing towards his clear blue eyes. They’re angled towards her and she resumes her work, dabbing the wound light before Hux flinches. “Calm down, I’m not going to kill you,” Rey assures with a snort, mentally comparing the man to a child.

“I highly doubt that.”

Her hands don’t stop moving at the sound of his heavy words, but she does glance over again. She sees that his eyes are focused elsewhere, unaware of her own gaze resting over his before his eyes close. Again, he has this peaceful and soft comfort accompanying his silence. Rey keeps up the treatment of the wound but even she can’t disagree that she does enjoy this serene moment filled with a gentle air and unspoken words.

Hux’s eyes open again and Rey finds herself staring into the crystalline blue of his irises. They remind her of the sky that’s so absent when in the Millenium Falcon as they drift through space yet so abundant in her memories of Jakku. She still prefers the colour green to the colour of blue that matches vastless oceans of empty sky, but the colouring of Hux’s bright gaze is mesmerizing as well as familiar. However, to what she’s connecting his eyes to eludes her thoughts and she’s left to wonder silently.

The words that slipped past his lips moments prior tumble about in Rey’s mind and she can’t help but feel a burden fall onto her shoulders. Yes, they’re enemies on opposing sides of a war, but she can’t help but want to spend time just staring into the eyes of the man coloured so strongly with fire and water. It’s almost as if he’s made to be conflicting.

So Rey simply puts these thoughts into a box and places it somewhere on the edge of her mind. She’d bring out that box another day, maybe later, and think about it then. But some of them leak out, bleeding into her mind as she continues her actions while reliving some of those days in her childhood when she would get herself hurt when scavenging.

The war can wait a little longer, she thinks, maybe tomorrow or when Hux is returned to the other side where he belongs. For now, Rey simply lets herself enjoy his company and his soft gaze.

Then it hits her. The way he looked at her with a interested glint merging with a another soft emotion she couldn’t name coupled with the deep blue of his eyes— they remind her of Luke— and Rey can’t help but let herself drop one of the walls surrounding her heart. It couldn’t hurt to, at least not for today at least.


End file.
